Jumping puzzles - a guide and discussion!

Hey everyone, I am not sure if you have all noticed but there are 37 jumping puzzles (35 are distinct) in GW2 totaling to 38 achievements under the explorer section of your achievements tab. Some puzzles are simple 5 minutes quickies while others are more elaborate and take hours to complete (or days if you are bad like me). I finally managed to complete all the jumping puzzles with achievements (there are 4-5 puzzles without achievements called mini-puzzles that I havn't done yet) and I thought I would throw a guide up for those who are not aware of their existence.

What are Jumping Puzzles?
Think of them as elaborate hidden vistas - some of them are even part of certain vistas! You can find them in almost every leveling zone (there are some exceptions) and Lion's Arch. Certain zones like Caledon Forest (4 in one zone!), Diessa Plateau, Lion's Arch have more than one jumping puzzle.

Completing the puzzles reward you with an achievement and a chest (or 3 chests in the case of Scavenger's Chasm). This chest reset daily so you can come back the next day and get it again.

Jumping puzzle difficulty

Jumping puzzles vary in difficulty and length. Some are super simple and short while others are long and feature difficult jumps. If you are just starting with jumping puzzles, it is highly recommended that you start with the easier ones rather than banging your head on the more difficult ones right away! (Save those for later). As you do more jumping puzzles, you will get better and better. Soon enough, you will be able to gauge what distances your character can and cannot jump, how to make really long jumps, and improve your finger dexterity.

If you are really bad at those jumping puzzles, don't worry! I was absolutely terrible with them myself in the beginning and would fail every other jump. With enough practice and time, I was able to complete all 37 puzzles! I have compiled a list of the jumping puzzles sorted by difficulty at the bottom of this post. Keep in mind that difficulty is arbitrary, some people will have some puzzles easier than others so your experience may not agree with my.

Jumping Puzzle list & guides

All of the regular jumping puzzles are listed below. To not take the fun out of the discovering the puzzle by yourself, I included in the beginning of every guide a map location of the puzzle and a brief description of how to start the puzzle. This should be enough to get you started in most cases if you hate spoilers.

If you like a more guided approach, all of them have videos and most of them (there are a few where I got lazy) have written walkthroughs along w/ pictures if you don't like watching videos.

Very nice. One basic piece of advice, if you all haven't done it already, is make sure to take dodge off of double tap. When I first started doing the puzzles I still had it on and after a few deaths I learned to take it off.

I have honestly never cursed so much in my life as I did completing all the jumping puzzles..... but great fun I must confess, I was a little relieved to finish them all. If anyone is struggling and finds they're not good at them, just keep going and you'll get there eventually.... and go with a group of friends if you can, because it's a LOT more fun, especially if you're not the only one falling down :P

I have honestly never cursed so much in my life as I did completing all the jumping puzzles..... but great fun I must confess, I was a little relieved to finish them all. If anyone is struggling and finds they're not good at them, just keep going and you'll get there eventually.... and go with a group of friends if you can, because it's a LOT more fun, especially if you're not the only one falling down :P

Make sure one of those friends is a mesmer

Who knows more of gods than I? Horse gods and fire gods, gods made of gold with gemstone eyes, gods carved of cedar wood, gods chiseled into mountains, gods of empty air... I know them all.
~Euron "Crow's Eye" Greyjoy

I try really hard not to spoil myself, both with finding the puzzles, and with solving them, but sometimes I need a little nudge in the right direction ... good example is Goemm's Lab in the asura zone. I scoured the map for hours, looking for likely caves or ledges or tall buildings, but eventually gave up and asked for a hint in /mapchat. Once someone had pointed me to the right area, I then spent another 90 minutes completing it.

I'll keep your blog bookmarked for future reference!

PS: I agree with the other posters --- the puzzles are really good fun (the few that I've found and done so far), even with the frustrations of multiple attempts. If you like interesting challenges : check 'em out!

Great work! I am TERRIBLE at jumping puzzles, but I am trying to get all the different accomplishment things so I am eventually going to do them. Trying to reach the Vista, POI, and Skill Challenges stuff is enough to keep me busy for now.

Hopefully they aren't as bad as the SWTOR jumping puzzles. In that game I couldn't stand trying to do more than 1 per week, and eventually I gave up completely with only about half of them done.

It'll be an interesting road, even the Lion's Arch puzzles having my pounding my desk out of frustration every time I fall.

I quite liked the Lions Arch puzzles. Trolls End puzzle was a bit of a pain though due to me being a Charr. I got it done but it would have been so much easier as an Asura (or with first person view, get er done Anet)

I quite liked the Lions Arch puzzles. Trolls End puzzle was a bit of a pain though due to me being a Charr. I got it done but it would have been so much easier as an Asura (or with first person view, get er done Anet)

Yeah I'm a human female but I had a male charr ahead of me the entire time I was in the puzzle and I couldn't see past him I ended up having to wait to continue with Troll's End and even then I still had some issues falling on my own. So frustrating. :P

Great work! I am TERRIBLE at jumping puzzles, but I am trying to get all the different accomplishment things so I am eventually going to do them. Trying to reach the Vista, POI, and Skill Challenges stuff is enough to keep me busy for now.

Hopefully they aren't as bad as the SWTOR jumping puzzles. In that game I couldn't stand trying to do more than 1 per week, and eventually I gave up completely with only about half of them done.

Yeah, I love TOR but hate many of the datacron things.

But then, I'm generally horrible at these types of things, so won't assign too much blame.

In GW2, I haven't done any yet. I figured I'd wait until higher level, in case the rewards are scaling stuff based on the level when you do them. Of course since you can do them daily, that's a stupid theory I have, but whatever!

I started an Asura one but didn't get far, and just yesterday I stumbled on Shaman's Rookery. I wasn't even sure it was "jumping puzzle", but it was fantastically detailed. I never fell, though ravens hit me plenty I was positioned well. My issue was that my skills as a level 14 elementalist were not enough for the fights. I couldn't out damage the pair of wolfguys, but outran/jumped them, but the two leopard guys killed me dead.

Oh, and the revenge one in Lions Arch. I couldn't make it past the entrance mouth, to show how much I suck

Weyandt's Revenge is actually ridiculously easy other than the entrance. I can clear the entire thing before the 4 minute speed buff from the dude by the waypoint wears off, so long as I don't die to Chompy. (My term for dying to the terrible collision detection madness at the entrance to Sharkmaw Caverns.)

Weyandt's Revenge is actually ridiculously easy other than the entrance. I can clear the entire thing before the 4 minute speed buff from the dude by the waypoint wears off, so long as I don't die to Chompy. (My term for dying to the terrible collision detection madness at the entrance to Sharkmaw Caverns.)

I took a friend there yesterday and we got it, it's all the entrance really. Inside was actually quite fun (though not challenging in itself, perhaps if the spikes did more damage or if healing wasn't so rapid) and amusing. I did Trolls End also, and it's sort of what I dislike in "action game" stuff, where you know where you have to go, you time it well, but it just doesn't land and you need to restart. Just sort of irksome, though it does make the actual completion of it more rewarding. (Especially given the chest gives me crap.)